


6: First Steps

by rahelawriter



Series: FFXIV Write 2019 [7]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Because Cid was NINETEEN when he ran away, Dark Past, Gen, Pre-Canon, Running Away, Teenage Rebellion, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 08:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20561408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rahelawriter/pseuds/rahelawriter
Summary: "And it all began that day, when I found my new home…"[Prompt #6 for FFXIV Write 2019: First Steps]





	6: First Steps

**Author's Note:**

> i just *clenches fist* love cid garlond so much………

They made it…

The airship Enterprise touched down on Aldenard soil with a gentle thump. For a long moment, Cid waited and listened for any signs or sounds of movement from below deck. The impact might have stirred the compatriots that had huddled together in the hold to sleep. But after thirty seconds of hearing nothing but silence, Cid let out a sigh of relief. Closing his eyes, he let his knees give out so he could sit down for the first time in uncountable hours. He knew that he'd have to wake everyone eventually, and when that happened, they would all have to discuss their next move. This was probably his only chance to rest and take in the quiet. A chance to think, and reflect…

Deep breaths… his chest rose and fell, but his heart was racing… 

He knew he had to leave. He couldn’t stomach another day perpetuating the Garlean war machine. He had to get out. He had to. And despite how some people might say how brave it was of him to defect, how he’d be a hero and inspiration to the people who were already resisting the Empire… He’d never been more terrified. He didn’t say anything to anyone. There were no grand speeches of righteous fury in front of the Senate, no words of condemnation to the Emperor, and no acts of real defiance against Gaius. 

He just… Packed up all the inventions and magitek schematics he could, gathered up a few of his like-minded peers, and just… bolted. Nothing brave or heroic or inspirational about it.

All he was was just… a scared, cowardly, _craven_ _little brat_ who was responsible for total annihilation of an entire city. A nineteen-year-old blueblood who ran away from home and couldn’t do anything by himself. 

_ He’d left so much behind… Nana Gertrude, Uncle Cato, Jenomis… Nero… _

He wondered how they all felt. If they were hurt by his decision to run. He didn’t want to hurt them. He just couldn’t cope with the truth about his nation, what Garlemald really was. 

_ Emperor Solus, the man he’d thought of as a grandfather of sorts… Cid and His Radiance were among those who went to survey the damage to Bozja. There… he saw the totality of it all. Destruction beyond fathoming. What few bodies were far enough away from the malms-wide crater to not be completely vaporized were… melted, All twisted, horrifying… _

_ All the innocent lives lost… Folk going about their business… children playing in the street… _

_ Those Bozjan rebels that attacked the Magitek Exhibition seven years ago… The ones that Cid and Nero worked together to subdue… Was this what they were trying to prevent? Did this happen because he’d stopped them? _

_ He’d saved his father that day, but now, Midas nan Garlond was dust. Just one of thousands, tens of thousands, countless others who’d all been…! _

_ “What have I done…?!” _

_ He broke down. He collapsed, unable to breathe, unable to do anything but shake and sob. _

_ Then he heard the sound of dry grass crunching under heavy footfalls. Out of the corner of his eye, there was Solus, slowly striding past him. Desperately, Cid looked up to him with tear-stricken eyes, wordlessly begging his emperor to say something, anything to make sense of this tragedy that was breaking him to pieces. _

_ But Solus said nothing in the deafening silence of that still-smoldering field. And on his face, Cid saw something that sickened him even worse than the stench of smoking flesh. _

_ Solus zos Galvus was _ ** _smiling._ **

Cid shook the sight of it out of his head before nausea could sink its claws back into his heart. He had to think about what the way forward was for him and the others who defected with him. There was no guarantee that Eorzea would accept these rogue engineers. They would have every right not to, in fact. Especially anyone from Ala Mhigo. After all, the weapons used to lay siege to it were his own school projects… 

Groaning and rubbing at his tired eyes, Cid reminded himself that he’d put Garlemald behind him. He was done with being used. He was done with building weapons of tyranny. Even though he had no idea what would come next, he knew that much.

“Freedom through technology… _ Freedom through technology…” _ He repeated this new creed of his like a mantra. Of course, Cid had never been religious, but he wondered if this was what it was like to pray. “I have to help fight back, somehow…”

But he was getting ahead of himself. This was supposed to be his time to breathe before the work could really get started.

_Stay very, very still. Think not of where you need to need to go, but where you are right now at this moment. At this time, in this place…_

Looking up, Cid examined the area in which he’d landed… Which was difficult to do, considering it was the dead of night. Pushing himself back onto his feet, he crossed the deck and slowly descended down the Enterprise’s steps. But before he reached the bottom, he paused in realization.

“My first steps on Eorzean soil…”

He took a deep breath, and moved slowly to give this moment the gravitas that it deserved. He took the final step, and stood upon a truly free land…

… It didn’t feel that much different from standing anywhere else. What was he expecting? 

Maybe Cid was more tired than he realized.

The fact that he then decided to remove his boots to feel the ground better lent credence to that notion.

But regardless, Cid set aside his boots and his socks, as well as his long smith’s mitt and white leather jacket, letting out a sigh of grateful relief for the feel of cool air on his skin. And now, setting his bare feet down, feeling the dew-soaked grass beneath them… The effect soothed him more than he expected. And he liked it enough to walk around for a short while, stretching his legs and arms, popping his sore joints as he went. 

It was enough to clear his head, at least, but he couldn’t stave off the _ yawn _ that came to him by the time he returned to the _ Enterprise. _ Nobody else was awake yet, so he might as well…

Using his mitt as a pillow, laying on his side atop the deck, Cid fell asleep rather easily despite his earlier anxieties…

… And when he awoke, it would be to his very first Eorzean sunrise.


End file.
